Songtapper – find the name of that song by tapping on your keyboard

If there’s one thing that’s constantly amazing about web tech, it’s how stuff actually does what it’s supposed to do when you least expect it. That’s why this Songtapper service, which looks like a bit of a joke at first glance, is such a shock. It actually seems to work.

The idea is to help you find the name of a song you’re trying to remember, by tapping in the rhythm of the track on your computer’s space bar. So we come along, all cynical like, and tap in a bunch of taps, and lo and behold the thing comes up with a list which includes ‘Staying Alive’, which was our choice. You could have knocked us down with a feather handbag.

You get a bunch of other guesses as well, which means you have to audition to make sure it’s the right answer, and the ringtone selection is a bit dodgy (hint: use the lyrics link and go to Wikipedia to listen), but it works. Pretty amazing. Pretty much like those 20 Question balls which always blow your mind the first time you think of a platypus and it gets it right.

Nigel is the managing editor of the Red Ferret, as well as a freelance columnist for the Sunday Times newspaper in London. Loves tech and fancies himself as a bit of a futurist, but then don’t we all?